Infliktors

Fronted by the demonstrative vocalist-guitarist Lee Ritter, Infliktors were members of the first brigade of Boston punk rockers that fired a shot heard ‘round the world along with their brethren in New York City and London in the mid-‘70s. The group reached this hallowed circle by right of the appearance of their songs “Da Da Dali” and “Norkis of the North” on the Live at the Rat double album recorded in September 1976 at Boston’s legendary punk club The Rathskellar.

The quartet traveled in quite different circles from the “scorched earth” nihilism that categorized The Sex Pistols and their descendants, however; there was little anarchy in their music and they drew instead from the blues-rock traditions that preceded them. As a result, the group was pretty much a hard-rock outfit with the exact same bluesy swagger found in supposedly hated groups like Queen and Led Zeppelin, both of which belonged to a bloated scene that the new generation was trying to overthrow.

Whether or not that ever happened is debatable, but what’s clear is that Infliktors were revered on the local scene despite their highly derivative style. They became the first act to record a single on the Ace of Hearts label, which soon “discovered” and popularized The Neighborhoods and Mission of Burma. That single, “Where’d You Get That Cigarette” b/w “Everyone Wants To Survive” can still be found (along with a previously lost Ace of Hearts track) but little else remains of the seminal four-piece unit. Ritter died in early 2006 from emphysema.

(by Carter Alan)

Carter Alan is a former WBCN deejay now heard on WZLX-FM in Boston. He’s the author of Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN (University Press of New England, 2013).